


Departing from Xadia

by LobsterMobster



Series: Home is Where the Heart is [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I have an obsession, Morning Cuddles, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22293013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LobsterMobster/pseuds/LobsterMobster
Summary: Six months ago, Callum and Rayla became heroes as well as a couple. Now, they are heading back to Katolis for the first time since the Battle of the Storm Spire to spend the winter holiday with Ezran. But after living together for half a year, they come to realize that their relationship looks a little different to the people around them.The companion piece to Return to Katolis. Even more fluffy, cuddly goodness and teasing from Ezran, now told from Callum and Rayla's points of view.
Relationships: Amaya/Janai (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: Home is Where the Heart is [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1604662
Comments: 127
Kudos: 446





	1. Home is Where the Heart is

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are, friends! Thank you so much to those of you who are reading this after Return to Katolis, and thank you to all of you who are reading for the first time! This is a companion piece, so it will be kind of filling in some gaps from the other story but also it will be expanding on it and telling a story of its own. I don't think it's going to be necessary to read Return to Katolis before this story, I'm hoping they'll compliment each other in a way so they can be read in either order. 
> 
> Anyway, thank you all again so very very much! I'm excited to jump back into another multi-chapter fic with you guys!

Callum loved early mornings when he managed to wake up before Rayla. 

It was usually a fairly rare occurrence -- her protective instincts and training as an assassin typically made her a  _ very  _ light sleeper. 

So when he’d woken up on this particular morning to find her arms still tightly wrapped around him and the steady puffs of her breath still tickling the back of his neck, he was more than happy to bask in the warmth of her embrace.

Eventually he rolled over and saw her still-sleeping face, calm and relaxed with just a hint of dried drool on the side of her mouth.

She was adorable.

He carefully kissed the tip of her nose before untangling her arms from around him. Callum held his breath when she started to stir, grumbling and frowning a little as he tried to pull away from her.

Cautiously, he reached a hand out to caress away the lines that were forming along her brow and much to his delight, Rayla’s face immediately relaxed. He waited for a moment longer, listening as her breaths lengthened and evened out once again. 

Callum smiled. 

Even after six months, moments like these still blew his mind. Rayla, who was so cunning, brave and heart-stoppingly beautiful, loved him just as much as he loved her. He was a lucky guy. 

He scooted as carefully as he could over to the edge of their bed and reached to the floor for his sketchbook. He grabbed it and sat up with his back against the wall at the head of the bed, bringing one knee up to prop the book against. 

Callum glanced back at Rayla and took in the peacefulness that had settled across her face before he found the charcoal pencil tucked into the pages and began to draw. He lost track of time almost immediately as he sketched the outline of Rayla’s form beneath the woven blanket, her body completely free of tension. 

She’d been tense a lot lately.

It had been almost three months since two new elves had arrived at the spire to act as the first new members of the Dragonguard, and Rayla had been adamant in making sure they were completely and undoubtedly prepared for the job of protecting Zym and Zubeia. 

With all she’d done to get the prince and their human companions to Xadia, the Dragon Queen had been more than happy to place Rayla in charge of establishing the new guard.

Candidates hadn’t been hard to find. Janai had left a list of sunfire soldiers who came with her full endorsement and Ibis had personally recommended a skywing elf from his settlement on Xadia’s eastern coast.

Rayla was quick to agree with Ibis’ pick, a winged elf named Tuula who was also trained as a mage. She could be a fierce fighter when she needed to be, but also had a sharp mind for strategy and defense.

Of Janai’s soldiers, Rayla’s pick had been a bit of a surprise to Callum. Grian’s strength was nothing to scoff at. He had more than held his own during the Battle of the Storm Spire, but he was also a talented healer. Callum had even remembered the elf examining the bruising around his throat from Kasef’s attack once the fighting had ended. He reminded him a lot of Soren in a way, tough and strong-willed but still kind and compassionate. 

They would balance each other well, Rayla had said, covering the other’s weaknesses while keeping Zym and Zubeia as the top priority.

Callum was beyond proud of her. 

His sketch slowly but steadily grew until he was ready to work on the details of her face. He tried to capture her look of restfulness as best he could. So often lately he would see her with creases of concentration between her eyes while she and the others trained, or lines of stress when she considered the weight of her duty. He was grateful to see she could find some peace while she rested.

“You know, it’s a little creepy to be drawing someone while they’re sleeping,” Rayla’s voice, thick with sleep, suddenly said from beside him. 

He chuckled, looking up from the page just long enough to see that she hadn’t even bothered to open her eyes. 

“You’re beautiful, what can I say?” Callum replied casually, using the side of his pinky to wipe away a smudge of charcoal that was distorting her nose a little.

He felt the bed shift next to him before Rayla’s arm slid across his middle and her face nuzzled lazily into his side. 

“And you’re warm,” she said, apparently not in any hurry to wake up this morning.

Callum felt his cheeks redden a little at how nonchalant she was when she snuggled up to him like this. But it came as no surprise, really -- they’d become no strangers to casual intimacy in the months they’d been together. 

Callum had always been rather “touchy-feely” as Ezran called it, and he’d been ecstatic to find that Rayla often craved affection even more than he did.

They were nearly inseparable when Callum wasn’t practicing with Ibis and Rayla wasn’t drilling the recruits, they flirted and teased each other with much more confidence than they used to, and not to mention, they’d been sharing a bed in the old Dragonguard quarters since Ezran and the others had left.

It was a bit of an unorthodox situation to say the least, one Ibis often sent them disapproving looks over, but they didn’t mind. All they ever did was kiss and cuddle and avoid the nightmares that still plagued both of them when they slept apart.

They hadn’t yet crossed that line into a more...mature relationship. They’d talked about it, both red-faced and unable to make eye-contact the entire time, but they’d come to the mutual conclusion that they should wait. So for now, they were more than happy holding each other close every night and waking up beside each other every morning. 

Callum readjusted his sketchbook and swapped the charcoal to his left hand so he could wrap his right arm around Rayla. 

“So are you planning on sleeping through our trip or…” Callum said, briefly closing his eyes to remember how Rayla’s hair had fallen across her face before she’d moved. 

She grumbled and held him tighter. “It’s early,” she said. “Katolis will still be there if we leave an hour later.”

Callum laughed and ran a hand through her hair, letting her doze a while longer while he finished his drawing. Judging by the light filtering in through the little gap in the rocks above them, it was in fact still early. 

They had time.

In one of his letters to Ezran a few weeks ago, Callum had told him of their intention to visit Katolis for the Winter Festival, and today was finally the day they were planning on setting off.

He was aching to see his little brother again and Aunt Amaya would be coming in from the breach to see them as well. But Callum couldn’t help but realize that he hadn’t been back home since that fateful night when his whole world had turned upside down. 

In a lot of ways, his life had changed for the better since that day. He was in love, the world had gotten its biggest taste of peace in hundreds of years and he was on his way to becoming a full-fledged sky mage. 

On the other hand, he also knew that he hadn’t been back in the castle since his dad was killed. He hadn’t had to walk the halls knowing that he wouldn’t find Harrow, Viren or Claudia walking through them as well. 

He wasn’t exactly looking forward to that. 

There was also no telling how the kingdom would react when their prince returned home after more than half a year to spend the winter holiday with his moonshadow elf girlfriend at his side. He knew Ezran had been doing everything he could to promote peace with elves and tell the story of their adventure, but stories could only do so much to change a kingdom’s mind. 

Callum took a deep breath as he finished the last few lines of his sketch. He hated to admit it, but he was nervous to go back. Being in Xadia wasn’t easy; he missed Ezran, Soren and Aunt Amaya; training with Ibis was difficult and frustrating at times and he was still a stranger to the land all around them.

But it was also where he felt like he’d come to be worth something. 

Back in Katolis, he had truly felt like the “mis-step-prince,” even though Soren had apologized for calling him that. He hadn’t been good at anything and the people of the court and the kingdom knew that. 

Now, after all they’d been through, he actually felt confident in what he could do. He could shoot lightning from his fingers, he could summon a gale-force wind, he could  _ fly.  _

He was a mage. 

But he didn’t know what it would feel like to be back in the place where he’d grown up feeling so useless. 

Rayla shifted again at his side and he looked down to see her now fully-open eyes staring up at him with concern. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked gently. 

Callum put the pencil down, closed his sketchbook and slid it back to the edge of the bed before wrapping both arms around her. 

“Just thinking about going back after how much things have changed, how much  _ I’ve _ changed,” he said. “Seeing Ezran on the throne instead of our dad is going to be...weird. And it’s like I’ve been so focused on being a mage, I’m kind of not sure I know how to be a prince anymore. Does that make any sense?”

Rayla nodded, sitting up beside him and kissing him lightly on the lips. “It’s okay to be nervous, Callum. Things are going to be different. But Ezran will be there and he’ll still love you; that hasn’t changed."

Callum smiled and returned her kiss, bringing one hand up to cup her cheek. 

“Thank you,” he said sincerely, resting his forehead against hers. “You know, you’re getting pretty good at Big Feelings Time.”

Rayla chuckled. “Maybe so,” she said, leaning a little more into his touch. “But humans are still weird.”

* * *

They got up not long after, quickly pulling together the clothes and supplies they would need for the journey. In an effort to avoid causing too much of a scene, Pyrrah would be flying them as far as the moon nexus, where they’d spend the night before making the rest of the journey on foot. 

Well, “foot” being a relative term, as Callum was looking forward to using his mage wings to help them over some of the trickier terrain, which would save them at least a couple of days. 

Zym, on the other hand, was not looking forward to their departure. The little dragon arrived scratching at their door, yiping and whining until they let him in. He went to both of them and nuzzled their legs before settling himself firmly on top of Callum’s pack.

“Hey now, little one,” Rayla cooed, picking him up and scratching behind his ear. “You know we want to bring you with us, but you’re still too young to be going on  _ another _ adventure across the world. You need to stay with your mum.”

Zym’s eyes grew wide and began to shimmer, making Callum’s heart thrum with guilt. 

“We’ll be back in a couple weeks, buddy, I promise,” Callum said, trying to avoid looking too deeply into the dragon’s puppy eyes, which reminded him suspiciously of Ezran’s. Instead, he gave the dragon a comforting pat and booped his nose. 

While still visibly unhappy, Zym at least seemed to begrudgingly accept his answer. He stayed with them while they finished packing, even retrieving a spare sock when Callum didn’t notice it slip from his pile.

They could add "Being Without Zym" to their long list of things that would be odd about this trip. They were practically like surrogate parents to him at this point. He came to them when he was hungry or antsy or upset just as much as he'd go to Zubeia.

The Queen, in a testament to her open-mindedness, had never seemed perturbed by her son's fondness for the moonshadow elf and the human prince who had brought him home. Much to the contrary, she seemed to find their closeness endearing. It had been a key factor in her decision to offer them residence in the Storm Spire during Callum's training and the reformation of the Dragonguard.

It had been a difficult choice to make. Rayla had wanted so badly to help rebuild the Guard in honor of her parent’s bravery and Callum had immediately told her she should do it. He didn’t want her to miss a chance to do something she was so proud of. And Callum wanted so badly to stay with her and learn more from Ibis, but he had made a promise to Ezran back at the border. He’d said that as soon as he and Rayla had gotten Zym home, he’d go back to Katolis and help him. 

But when the moment came, he knew he’d be leaving his heart behind in Xadia.

So he went to Ezran and sheepishly told him that he’d been thinking about staying -- but that he’d absolutely come home with him if he was needed.

Ezran had just smiled, hugged him tightly and told him to stay with Rayla. Callum had shed several tears that day. Aside from when he’d seen his brother take off riding a dragon above a battlefield, he’d never seen Ezran look so much like their dad. 

He really was born to be a king.

Callum smiled as he latched his pack and hefted it up onto his shoulder. Maybe seeing Ezran up there on the throne wouldn’t be so weird after all. 

Zym took the opportunity to hop back on top of his already-hefty bag and lick the back of Callum’s ear. 

“He-hey, Zym, come on. We’ve talked about this, you know that tickles,” Callum said, chuckling and trying to shoo him away. But Zym just chirped in delight and licked again, sending a soft shock of electricity through his ear. “I’m gonna tell Ez how much you miss him, I promise.”

Meanwhile, Rayla stood at the door, her own pack on her shoulder and an amused look on her face. 

“Don’t suppose you want to, you know, help me or anything?” Callum said dryly as he spun in circles trying to remove Zym from his shoulders.

Rayla laughed, taking her time as she walked over and skillfully snatched Zym and kissed the top of his head. 

“There, see?” She said smartly, putting Zym back on the ground. “Now come on, we’ve got another dragon to catch.” 

They stopped in Zubeia’s chambers to say goodbye and she and Ibis wished them well on their travels. The other elves, who stood at the ready in their Dragonguard uniforms, also offered them salutes as they left. 

Pyrrah was already waiting for them outside when they emerged, the deep scarlet of her scales glowing like flames in the early-morning sunlight. She offered them a low rumble in greeting before she lowered herself to the stone platform. 

Zym began to fuss once more, yipping and crying before he grabbed hold of the cuff of Callum’s trousers in his mouth and sat down stubbornly. 

It would have been adorable if Callum didn’t also feel awful for leaving the little guy behind. 

“It’s gonna be okay, Zym,” he said, scooping him up and hugging him close. “We’ll be back before you know it. But for now we need you to help look after your mom, okay? Be good to Tuula and Grian.”

Zym gave a little coo of sadness and acceptance and gave Callum one more large lick on his cheek. 

He winced as sparks crackled around his face but smiled all the same. “I love you too, Zym.” 

Rayla walked over and accepted her own large zappy kiss before wrapping her arms around both of them. Together they cradled the Dragon Prince until Pyrrah gave a little snort of impatience from the other side of the platform. 

Zym watched them intently as they set him down and climbed onto the larger dragon. From there, Pyrrah moved quickly to take off, striding toward the edge of the spire and taking a great leap before spreading her wings. 

It didn’t take long for Zym and the top of the spire to disappear from sight, but Callum and Rayla waved all the same.

Callum watched until the entire spire faded into the distance, replaced by smaller outcroppings and rolling valleys.

He was going home.

When he finally looked forward, Rayla caught his eyes and offered him a warm smile, silently reassuring him that everything was going to be alright. 

He smiled back and scooted forward to wrap his arms around her, remembering something very important. 

He was already home. 


	2. Return to Katolis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came together faster than I thought, which is awesome! Thanks again to all of you who have been following along with the story and to those who are jumping in for the first time! You're all so wonderful and thanks for all of your suggestions for the future chapters. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

The flight with Pyrrah was quicker than Rayla expected. By midnight, they’d reached the moon nexus and Lujanne emerged to greet them as they landed.

“It is good to see you both again,” she said as they sleepily fumbled their way down from the dragon’s back. “Although I had hoped to see my Phoe Phoe with you.”

Rayla’s body froze, causing her to promptly miss Callum’s outstretched hand as he lost his balance and slammed into her. She stumbled, but stayed standing, though she suspected her heart was lying somewhere on the ground where Callum was now splayed. 

The memory of the moon phoenix bursting into flames at the bottom of the Storm Spire replayed in front of her eyes. Had no one told her what happened? Did she think Phoe Phoe had been with them in Xadia these last six months?

Horrified, Rayla looked to Lujanne, fully expecting the mage to deliver, at the very least, a stern lecture about not returning her beloved mount. However, much to her surprise, Rayla instead watched Lujanne’s stony expression melt into one of amusement before she began to laugh with gusto. 

“I am only messing with you,” Lujanne said eventually, wiping a tear from her eye. “Young Ezran informed me of Phoe Phoe’s transformation months ago. No harm done.”

Rayla narrowed her eyes. “Very funny,” she said blandly, reaching down to pull Callum up from the grass. There was _about_ to be some harm done. 

“I certainly thought so,” Lujanne replied indifferently, either not noticing Rayla’s agitation, or simply not caring. 

Rayla suspected the latter. 

All-in-all it was a pleasant, if not brief, visit. Rayla and Callum were eager to get a few hours of sleep before sunrise, skillfully avoiding Lujanne’s pointed look when they both entered the first room she brought them to. In the morning, they spent an hour or so chatting together and catching up over breakfast -- all real food this time, Lujanne assured -- before they began to head down the caldera.

Rayla couldn’t help the nostalgia that began to kick in as they retraced their steps from all those months ago. She recalled their frantic sprint up the mountain after being chased from the nearby town, their well-choreographed battle with Lujanne’s leech monster, all leading up to Zym’s birth when Callum broke his primal stone. 

A lot had really changed since then, she thought fondly as she looked down at their joined hands.

A lot had changed for the better. 

They were decidedly better dressed for their adventure this go around as well. Moonshadow elves weren’t typically put out by cold weather, but Rayla had to admit that climbing a snowy mountain, getting swept away by an avalanche and pulling a human prince and a dragon egg from a freezing lake in her regular attire had been pushing things just a little. 

She and Callum had both managed to find decent new clothing during a brief excursion away from the spire about a month ago. She had to admit, it was a bit odd to see Callum in something other than his usual Katolin colors, but it also brought a slight blush to her cheeks to see him dressed in the traditional dark greens and greys of her people, his scarf now the only burst of bright color.

He’d also asked her to cut his hair a few times since they’d been in Xadia, saying it got in his eyes while he was flying if it was too long. While her first try admittedly hadn’t gone so well -- although it had managed to make Zubeia laugh-- Rayla had gotten much better at it, and Callum was now pleased with how it looked. 

His hair was shorter than he’d used to wear it, still messy and long enough in places for her to weave in tiny braids when he was distracted, but trimmed enough to be efficient. Combined with the moonshadow clothing he now wore and the slight bit of definition his arms had taken on since he’d been training, Rayla couldn’t help but stare every once in awhile at how handsome he looked.

Rayla cursed in her head as she felt her cheeks begin to heat up. She had never considered herself the type to get distracted by someone’s looks. Even when she’d had crushes growing up, she’d been able to keep herself focused. She’d had a plan, and that plan didn’t include fawning over boys. But then again, that plan had never included falling in love with a human either. 

After they descended the caldera and the terrain began to slope into a steady decline, Callum stopped to remove his jacket and unceremoniously stuff it in his pack, revealing the freshly repainted runes on his arms. 

Rayla lifted his bag onto her other shoulder and watched as Callum briefly stretched in preparation. 

“You ready to fly?” He asked, clearly excited to show off. 

“That depends,” Rayla said with a smirk. “You gonna be able to stay warm enough up their without turning into a bird-prince popsicle?”

“Hey, I’ve never heard you complain about being cold when you use my wings as a blanket,” he replied, wincing as he rolled his shoulders and one of them gave a little ‘pop.’ “I’ll be fine.”

She chuckled and made a show of bowing in his direction. “Whenever you’re ready then, Your Highness.”

Callum rolled his eyes before closing them and raising his arms. He took a deep breath and spoke. “Manus, pluma, volantus.” 

The runes erupted, first with light and then with familiar brown feathers. 

The magic truly was magnificent, Rayla noted as she watched his transformation for what was probably the hundredth time. She never tired of seeing his face light up as he sprouted the wings he’d used to save her life.

“Tada!” Callum said, raising his wings straight up and bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. 

“You know, it somehow seems less impressive when you end it with ‘tada.’” Rayla said, walking over and poking him in the stomach to make him drop his arms.

“Nope, don’t care. It’s a ‘tada’ kind of spell,” he said, his smile not diminishing in the slightest. Instead, he dropped to one knee in the snow and gestured to his back. “Besides, you’re the one who gets a free ride out of this.” 

She shrugged and hopped onto his back, looping her arms around his shoulders and locking her ankles over his stomach so she wouldn’t slide off. It was admittedly a much more comfortable position for both of them to fly in compared to her dangling from his neck, although it had been a little awkward the first couple of times.

“Ready,” she said softly into his ear when she felt secure. 

Callum nodded and stood up, baring her weight and the weight of their bags with surprising ease. He had always been stronger than he’d given himself credit for. When Phoe Phoe had made her crash landing and Zym and Ezran nearly went tumbling over a cliff face, Rayla may have been the one to catch them, but Callum had caught her. He’d had to support the weight of all three of them when he’d pulled her up, an impressive feat which she hadn’t failed to notice. Plus, he’d now had plenty of practice flying with her as a passenger.

He took off at a jog before jumping into the decline of the hill, letting the ground disappear beneath his feet and giving his wings a few strong flaps. Then, they were airborne, soaring high above the snowy landscape. 

Rayla hung on tightly to his back, but let her head come to rest gently on his shoulder as they looked out over the land ahead of them. It was a relief to be able to bypass the tough, narrow trails they’d used on the way to Xadia. Eventually, they even caught sight of the scene of the avalanche and the frozen pond where they’d dropped Zym’s egg. 

Callum flapped his wings a few extra times, propelling them over the lake fairly quickly and causing Rayla to jerk backward with a start. 

“Sorry,” Callum said once they were over the lake. “That place isn’t a particularly fond memory.” 

Rayla placed her head back on his shoulder, turning to the side to kiss his temple. “It’s okay. It was scary.” 

Those few moments where they’d thought Ez and the egg were both lost forever under the ice had in fact been horrifying.

“People I love need to stop jumping into and off of dangerous things,” he replied flatly before glancing over at her. 

Rayla bumped her forehead against his. “Don’t worry, you can’t get rid of me and Ez that easily.” 

“I know,” he whispered back before kissing her fully. 

Rayla’s eyes drifted closed as she reveled in the feeling of his cold lips against hers. She’d never admit it out loud, but kissing Callum let her slip into a place of vulnerability where she felt simultaneously exposed and more at ease than she could ever imagine. Callum had taught her what real flying felt like, but if he hadn’t, she would swear this was it. 

At least, until the feeling was abruptly replaced by the sensation of her stomach dropping out from under her. 

Her eyes opened with a start and she pulled away from Callum to see the treetops quickly approaching them. She let out a yell and clung tighter to him as they dropped from the sky. 

Callum hastily resumed flapping his wings, stopping their freefall and correcting their course with a slight wobble. 

Rayla, who had sunk her nails into his chest like a frightened banther cub, turned to glare at him. 

“Sorry! Sorry, I got a little distracted,” Callum said frantically. 

* * *

The rest of their flight was relatively uneventful. They managed to make it all the way out of the mountains before Callum started to get tired and brought them down for a landing. They trudged the remaining few miles through the snow to the Banther Lodge, where they stopped to rest only briefly before pushing forward to Katolis.

They’d be getting in late, but Rayla preferred it that way. Ezran had tried to suggest they arrive at midday so he could plan some kind of fanfare to welcome them back as heroes, but she’d quashed that idea immediately. 

She knew there’d be more than enough looks and whispers when people caught sight of her without drawing extra attention their way. Besides, the last time she’d set foot in the kingdom, it had been with a very different goal in mind, one that she still wasn’t proud of. 

Rayla winced as her left wrist gave a little throb. It didn’t hurt often, but the cold weather wasn’t doing her any favors and thinking about it never helped either. 

Since they’d told Ezran they were coming, she’d been fighting guilt that occasionally crept into her mind. The kind of guilt that told her she didn’t deserve to be welcomed back to Katolis after what she’d done. 

Callum and Ezran’s father was dead, Runaan was dead, her team was dead. 

She might not have spilled any blood that night but she still felt its stain on her hands. Her own people had cast her out because of it. Why would humans choose to give her any more leniency?

Callum, in all his kindness, had reassured her again and again that no matter what the rest of the kingdom thought, he and Ezran would have her back. And it was his words she began repeating in her head when they eventually caught their first glimpse of the castle through the trees. 

“Wow,” Callum breathed as he looked up at his home, his cheeks and nose both painted red from the cold. “We’re really back.” 

“Yep,” Rayla said, swallowing hard as she felt her wrist give another twinge beneath the fabric of her coat. “There it is.”

Callum turned to her, putting one hand on her shoulder and one beneath her chin to redirect her gaze to him. 

“Hey, it’s okay to be nervous, remember? But we’re here to see Ez and Soren and Aunt Amaya. Everything else, we’ll deal with along the way, alright?” He said softly. 

She gave a little snort as he quoted her own words from yesterday back at her. He was nervous too, but he didn’t hesitate to stop and comfort her when she needed it. Humans never ceased to amaze her, especially her human. 

Rayla took a deep breath to regain control over her thoughts before nodding. “We’ve got this,” she said. 

“We’ve got this,” Callum repeated in affirmation before unraveling his scarf from his neck and loosely weaving it around hers. “But a little extra luck never hurt either.” 

Ezran was waiting with Soren at the gates to the kingdom when they finally rounded the last bend in the trail. Despite the snow that fell around them, they all caught sight of each other at the same time and any residual anxiety that had been roosting in Rayla’s gut immediately vanished as she and Callum took off at a run. 

Ezran met them in the middle, Bait hopping along at his side and Soren not far behind. They all dropped to their knees as they wrapped their arms around each other. Rayla felt tears running in hot tracks down her cheeks before the breath was squeezed from her lungs when Soren joined their embrace. 

“I missed you guys so much,” Ezran choked out, his voice broken by tears and the strength of Soren’s hug. 

“We missed you too,” Callum said, clutching his brother and hiccuping on his own sobs.

They stayed together in a heap long enough for the snow to begin collecting on their shoulders before they finally began making their way back to the castle. Much to Rayla’s surprise, Bait jumped into her arms and insisted she carry him as they walked. Meanwhile, Callum fussed over Ezran and lamented the fact that he seemed to have grown at least an inch since they’d been gone. 

“So you’re keeping that then?” Rayla said to Soren as they walked, gesturing with one finger toward his face where he was still sporting a thin, but admittedly fuller, beard. He laughed goodnaturedly and brought a hand up to his chin.

“Yep!” he said brightly. “It makes me look more rugged and dangerous.” 

Rayla made a little sputtering sound in an effort to keep from laughing outright. “Sure,” she said. “Why not.” 

Soren seemed pleased enough with her response and continued to lead them through the winding streets. 

Doors and windows were closed tight against the cold and they didn’t see another person until they finally reached the castle, where the night guards stood at the ready. They straightened even more when they saw Soren returning with King Ezran, but almost immediately fumbled when they also caught sight of Callum and Rayla. 

She noticed a few of their hands twitch in the direction of their weapons, but they each hesitated before eventually returning to their neutral stance. They were trying, she’d give them that. But Rayla couldn’t help but feel slightly more aware of her own blades holstered on her back. 

Being engulfed by the bright warmth of the castle immediately reminded Rayla of how exhausted she was. They’d each taken a brief nap at the Banther Lodge, but that had been miles and hours ago. To her left, she saw Callum also beginning to sag and grimace under the weight of his pack, his arms and shoulders undoubtedly killing him by now. 

It had been a long day. 

It didn’t take long for Ezran to pick up on their fatigue and he quickly ushered them down several hallways and toward a number of doors. 

“Your room is just like you left it,’ Ezran said happily to Callum while pointing at one of the doors. “And Opeli set up this one for you, Rayla,” he said, gesturing down the hall to another. 

Rayla hoped that the sudden wave of panic that rushed through her didn’t show on her face. Instead, she attempted to cover it with a smile and a grateful nod before also shooting a quick glance in Callum’s direction. 

In a way, it relieved her to see that he looked just as concerned as she did. But how were they supposed to go about telling his kid brother that they wanted to share a room?

Ice joined the electric panic surging through Rayla’s veins as she realized that in all the letters they’d exchanged, she couldn’t recall them ever mentioning the fact that she and Callum shared a bed or why. 

Oh no. 

This was exactly like the Storm Spire all over again.

There was nothing she could do except bid Ezran what she hoped was a pleasant goodnight before retreating to the door he’d shown her. She looked over once more at Callum, who was now standing in front of his own door, his eyes glancing back and forth between Ezran, her and the door handle, unsure of what to do. 

Rayla stuffed her own panic away for a moment and smiled at Callum reassuringly before pulling open the door and heading inside. 

It was a nice enough room -- extravagant really, compared to what she was used to -- with a large bed and plush fur rug on the floor. The walls were decorated with tapestries of Katolis’ red and gold towers and a fire was already crackling in a hearth off to the side.

But Rayla didn’t let herself get comfortable, she wouldn’t be staying here long. 

Leaning against the door, she closed her eyes and listened hard for footsteps. She could hear Ezran’s soft footfalls as he presumably headed toward the King’s chambers. There would undoubtedly be at least a patrol passing through the hall during the night now that Callum was back. But she didn’t hear them just yet. 

She could either wait and see how long they had between rotations, risking the possibility that a stationary guard would post up outside their doors instead. Or, she could go now, before they even arrived, but risk Ezran seeing her sneak into his brother’s room. 

Rayla let out a huff of breath in agitation. 

No, she’d do this now. She didn’t want to leave Callum alone to his nightmares in case he fell asleep before she got to him. 

Holding her breath, she reopened her door, being careful to move slow and prevent the old wood from creaking under the movement. 

Glancing around, she was relieved to only see Ezran’s retreating back, now several dozen yards away. Swiftly, she closed her own door and tiptoed down the hall to Callum’s room. She opened his door with equal care before slipping inside, finally releasing her held breath when it closed safely behind her. 

Callum shot up from the chair where he’d been sitting, a row of windows surprisingly sitting open in front of him.

“Hey!” he said, a little too loudly before wincing.

“Hey,” she whispered back softly, gesturing to the windows. “What’s all that about?”

“Oh, I uh--I didn’t know which way you’d be trying to come from, so I thought I’d make it easier,” he said nervously as he turned and began to close the windows.

Rayla’s eyes widened a little.

He hadn’t questioned _if_ she’d come for him, just _how_ she’d come for him. He knew her well enough to trust that she wouldn’t leave him alone.

She crossed the room in two steps, took hold of him by the collar of his jacket and kissed him firmly on the lips. 

He made a grumbled sound of surprise before she felt him smile into the kiss and wrap his arms around her waist. 

“I love you,” she said assuredly when she pulled away, looking him straight in the eyes.

He smiled and pecked her lips once more. “I love you too. Now come on, let’s get some sleep.” 

Rayla nodded before turning around to remove her jacket, boots and the outer layers of her armor while Callum removed his outerwear as well. He climbed into bed first and held out a hand, which she quickly took before tucking herself comfortably against his side. He draped the blanket over them as she settled her head against his chest, letting the steady rhythm of his heart calm her own. 

“Goodnight, Rayla,” he whispered as he wrapped an arm around her. 

“Goodnight,” she whispered back, losing herself in the feeling of warmth and comfort and easily drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


	3. Rude Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little longer to publish. All the usual suspects are to blame: work, health, life in general. But we have finally arrived at Callum and Rayla's first morning back in Katolis. Thank you all so much for reading, it really means a lot!

Callum’s brows knitted together as he was suddenly pulled from sleep the next morning. He vaguely registered the sound of a loud smack followed by someone saying his name, but his sleep-muddled brain chose instead to focus on Rayla’s warmth on his chest as she also began to stir. 

His eyes were bleary but they found hers easily enough. She smiled up at him, her hand resting over his heart and her hair in a tangle beneath her. He smiled back and pulled her a little closer, fully intending to lazily doze for a while longer. 

It had been so long since he’d woken up in this room, since he’d woken up in Katolis. His eyes drowsily scanned around him. He’d had a few minutes last night to take it all in before Rayla snuck over, but it was different seeing it again in the light of day. Years of sketches were still hung in their places on the walls, various scrolls he’d collected still sat in a basket in the corner and then there was Ezran standing in the doorway.

...What?

Callum’s eyes snapped open, and sure enough, there was Ez standing at the door with Bait held over his head and a very, very smug look on his face. 

Oh...oh no. 

All at once, Callum realized what had happened. He and Ezran had created a sport out of tormenting each other in the mornings. Who ever woke up first took their turn finding the most unpleasant way to wake the other, and Ezran’s favorite tactic involved launching Bait at Callum’s head.

And instead, his little brother had just found him in bed with his girlfriend. 

Callum’s face erupted in what was surely the most furious blush he’d ever experienced. Rayla, who’d also spotted the young king standing in front of them, was frozen in Callum’s arms. 

“Morning guys!” Ezran said with way too much pep in his voice. “Sleep well?”

Rayla shot up, her elbow connecting sharply with Callum’s ribs in the process. She yanked the coverlet up and before his half-asleep, fully-mortified brain could catch up with her, she’d wrapped the whole thing around herself and scrambled off the bed. 

Callum narrowly avoided one of her knees as it also threatened to connect with his side. Instead, he watched her scramble to throw open his wardrobe, stuff herself inside and close the door behind her.

This left Callum alone in bed in his underclothes and nothing but sore ribs and panicked thoughts swirling around him. 

When he’d turned twelve, Harrow had sat Callum down and explained about the special way people who are in love sometimes show their affection and how, sometimes, that would lead to a baby being made. 

It had been equal parts informative and mortifying.

But for the first time since his step-dad's death, Callum realized that Ezran had never gotten that talk, at least not that he knew of. His mind flashed back to one of the first days of their journey when Ez had confronted him about the dream he’d been having. 

Right, sandwiches. 

The sound of Ezran’s laughter broke through the deluge of Callum’s thoughts, snapping his attention back to him. 

“I told Opeli to just let Rayla stay in my old room,” Ezran said. “I figured you guys must be used to sleeping together at this point.”

Callum heard Rayla let out a groan inside the wardrobe, followed by a solid thump against the wood.

Okay, this was going to be okay, Callum thought. He could do this. He’d helped deliver the Dragon Prince across the continent. He was a powerful mage in training. He could figure out whether his brother understood what sex was. 

Callum placed a hand over his racing heart, only to discover that somehow the topmost buttons of his shirt had been undone sometime during the night. 

Oh come on. What had he done to deserve this?

“Uh, Ez...Did Opeli say why she didn’t want us staying together?” Callum said, his voice quivering just as much as his hands as he fumbled to reseal the buttons. If Opeli had already told him, this whole scenario had just become even more awkward, but if she hadn’t, then maybe Callum could still play the whole thing off.

Yeah, that could work.

“Just that it was ‘inappropriate’ or something,” Ezran replied. “But I said that if we wanted the rest of the world to get along, we had to lead by example, so we shouldn’t separate you guys just because Rayla’s an elf. But then she just said that wasn’t the reason, and that it would be inappropriate whether Rayla was an elf or not.”

Callum had almost forgotten that Opeli had also been at the Storm Spire in those few days after the battle. At the time, the trauma of the whole ordeal had still been fresh, as was his and Rayla’s relationship. They also hadn’t exactly been subtle with the fact that they were together. 

They’d slept on a single mat while the wounded were being cared for in the Dragonguard quarters; they’d snuck off to be alone on more than one occasion and they both had had a hard time keeping their hands to themselves. And then, of course, there was the fact they’d been living together for the last six months. 

Yeah, he could kind of see where Opeli was coming from.

But Callum was skeptical of Ezran’s naivete. “Uh huh…?” He said carefully, checking his brother’s expression just to be sure. He was a good kid, but he could be a devious liar when he wanted. His nearly-flawless record of stealing jelly tarts from the kitchens was more than proof of that. 

“Why would she think it’s inappropriate?” Ezran asked genuinely. “She knows you guys are...a thing, and I told her that you like to cuddle and stuff.”

Callum winced as another loud smack came from the wardrobe. He couldn’t blame her; Honestly, he wished he had something to bang his head against as well. But at the very least, Ezran seemed to be telling the truth. He seemed curious more than anything.

That was good, Callum could work with that.

“Uhhh…” he said, stretching out the word as long as he could while he considered what to say. Finally, an idea came to him. 

Deflection.

“You know what Ezran?” He said finally, allowing his voice to lighten. “I have no idea,” he said. “Psh, why would she think it’s not appropriate? Heh, Opeli’s always been so weird about rules, huh?”

For some reason he was waving his arms now. He wasn’t exactly sure when he’d started waving his arms. 

“Why don’t we go for a walk while Rayla gets ready though,” he said, glancing back over to the wardrobe as he finally managed to close the buttons on his shirt and move off the bed. “I want to see how the festival is shaping up.

There was the reaction Callum wanted. He watched Ezran’s face light up at the mention of the festival.

“Yeah! It’s awesome, Callum! I let Barius have a bigger stall this year and he came up with a new jelly tart that’s amazing! Oh! And Aunt Amaya’s sunfire elf friend is coming too!”

“Well all right then, let’s go!” Callum said eagerly, pulling on his jacket and reaching for his boots as he beamed at his brother. 

This was perfect; they’d go down to the festival, eat some jelly tarts and Ezran would forget this whole thing by the end of the day. Glancing over to the wardrobe, Callum cringed. Getting Rayla to forget about this little debacle would be a bit harder.

“Uh, Rayla, you want to come join us when you’re ready?” He asked tentatively as he walked over to her hiding place and knocked once on the wood.

“Nope. No, I’m just gonna stay in here forever now, thanks,” she replied, her voice muffled.

A little chuckle escaped from Callum’s lips without his permission.“Hey, Ez? Give me just a minute, would you? I’ll meet you outside.”

“Yeah, of course. Come meet me when you guys are done being gross,” Ezran replied, and with one more chuckle followed by a croak of amusement from Bait, they were gone. 

Callum sighed and brought his forehead to rest against the wood.

“So that went about as good as I would have expected,” he said tiredly, letting his body slump forward just a bit. 

“ _ Good?”  _ Came Rayla’s exasperated reply. “How could you possibly call what just happened ‘ _ good?’ _ ” 

“If you come out of there maybe I’ll tell you.” He said, pulling lightly on the handle. 

Rayla snapped it shut again. “No,” she said flatly. 

“Come on, Rayla. It’s not like we were doing anything bad.”

“Ezran doesn’t know that.”

“He doesn’t even know what we could have been doing, I swear,” Callum said, pulling again on the door.

This time, however, Rayla let it open just a little and he saw her confused face still swathed in the blanket and a little circle of red on her forehead.

“What do you mean?” She asked, her hand still twitching toward the door. 

Callum groaned. He was so ready to be done talking about this today. “I mean, he hasn’t had... _ the talk  _ yet.”

Rayla looked gobsmacked. “You’re kidding, he’s almost eleven.”

“Hey, I didn’t find out until I was older than him. Plus, there wasn’t exactly time for me to do it after our dad...died and we were trying to get to Xadia.” He said, managing to pull the door open the rest of the way.

Rayla winced a little at that. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“But hey,” Callum said, reaching out to find her hand. “It’s not your fault. We made things better, right? And now we’re back here to keep making them better.”

Rayla squeezed his hand, sighed heavily and then ushered him to move out of the way as she crawled back out of the wardrobe.

“There,” she said firmly. “Are you happy now?”

He pulled the coverlet away from her, letting it drop to the floor as he ran his hands up her bare arms before brushing the hair from her shoulders. “Yep, this makes me very happy,” he said.

She shivered a little under his touch before melting into it. She leaned forward to kiss him and Callum felt the storm of his own mind clear a little.

“Why don’t you get dressed and come meet Ez and I outside?” He said after moving away, his voice coming out a little thick. “This whole thing will blow over and we’ll enjoy a nice, non-mortifying visit with my brother, okay?”

Another sigh pulled its way from between Rayla’s lips before she nodded. “Fine,” she said, stealing one more kiss before she began searching the floor for her boots. “But we’re locking the door tonight.”

* * *

Callum had missed Ezran tremendously, but walking into town with him felt like no time had passed.

They paused momentarily on the bridge for a brief, but spirited, snowball fight and talked about how agonizingly dull his class on economics was. However, Ezran was proud to report that he got full marks on his last exam on Katolin history. 

He was also proud to point in every direction as they were walking to tell Callum about the decorations, the stalls for the vendors and all the organization he’d done to make sure his first festival as king would go well. 

“I don’t know how dad used to make this look so easy,” Ezaran said, Bait warbling in affirmation in his arms. “I’m exhausted.” 

He didn’t look tired. In fact, Callum noted that his brother was positively beaming. 

“I’m really proud of you, Ez,” he said, looking around at the shops and houses where sleepy citizens were just starting to emerge for their morning duties. The whole town buzzed with the same kind of anticipation it always did before the festival. 

It was just like Callum remembered. 

“Thanks,” Ezran said, practically skipping now as they walked. “It was cool to find out I could handle it all by myself.”

Corvus cleared his throat loudly from behind them. 

“You know what I mean!” Ezran called back to him. “Just that I could be king without you or dad here to help me,” he continued, turning back to Callum.

A small twist of guilt bubbled in Callum’s stomach. “Do you wish that I would have come back with you?”

He knew Ezran was a strong kid who could handle himself, but he was still just a kid. Callum couldn’t imagine having to rule the entire kingdom without his parents or his brother at ten years old. 

But Ezran shook his head. “No, I’m glad you stayed in Xadia. You get to learn magic and be with Rayla and I’ve still got plenty of people to help me.” He turned and smiled pointedly to Corvus, who laughed as he continued trailing behind them. 

As they were nearing the town square, Callum paused as a familiar feeling came over him, like a small shift in the wind tickling the hair on the back of his neck.

He smirked.

“Callum?” Ezran asked, looking back at him confused. “Why did you stop? What’s wro-”

“Shh,” he replied, a small smile on his face. Quickly, he brought a finger up to draw a very small rune in the air. “Aspiro frigis,” he whispered, letting his hand drift down to the snow on his left. 

Back at the spire, much of Callum’s early training had consisted of meditating on top of the pinnacle, feeling how the air currents moved and flowed around him throughout the course of a day. 

It was long, monotonous and it left him, as Rayla put it, wide open for a sneak attack. She’d proven her point on multiple occasions, tiptoeing her way up the stone steps at twilight, creeping up behind him and blowing in his ear or poking him on top of the head. He’d finch or tumble to the side while she giggled and kissed his nose.

But a curious thing started to happen a few weeks ago.

While Callum would meditate, he began getting this feeling when Rayla was coming. It was like he could recognize the way her body cut through the air around her, no matter how quickly or quietly she moved.

It was incredible. He could sense when she was climbing the steps or inching her way across the stone slab. It let Callum focus on all the little ticks and habits Rayla had when she moved: like the particular sound of her footfalls, her tendency to come at Callum from his left side or the way she held her breath as she approached. 

Ibis said it was normal for sky mages to become attuned to the ebbs and flows of the air around the people they loved. It didn’t usually happen until they had much more experience, but Callum was already an outlier, so he didn’t see anything too strange about it.

Callum, meanwhile, found immense comfort in being able to tell when Rayla was nearby. Since he’d watched her go over the edge with Viren, he’d harbored every nightmare and anxiety imaginable about losing her. But, by learning her movements, he could tell when something was off.

Or, like today, when she was trying to sneak up on him.

The snow beside him froze into a smooth, solid sheet of ice. Ezran continued looking at him quizzically, but Callum didn’t say another word until Rayla jumped from a low roof beside them. 

She landed right where he knew she would and let out a little squeak of surprise as her feet found ice instead of snow. She floundered for a moment as she fought to catch her balance, but Callum just snickered and grabbed one of her arms, pulling her safely toward him. 

“Hey,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. “There you are.”

Everyone around him fell silent. Callum looked down at Rayla where she was clutching at his jacket, her feet planted unsteadily on the ice beneath her. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung slightly open as she looked at him. 

“How-how did you know I was going to do that?” She asked, using him to yank herself up and away from the ice.

“What do you mean?” Callum said, pulling her forward a few steps and waving his hand to cancel the spell. “I heard you coming.” 

He hadn’t quite found the right way to explain it to her just yet, but judging by her expression, she could already tell something was up.She looked at him doubtfully before turning to Corvus, who also affirmed that he hadn’t heard her approaching.

They, along with Ezran, spent the next few minutes debating how Callum’s reflexes had become faster than an average human’s. In return, he blushed and clutched Rayla’s hand, hoping that they would move on from the subject quickly. 

She paused to give him a dubious look and Callum couldn’t help but think that this conversation would be continuing once they got back to his room that night.

The rest of the day was a generally pleasant affair. Ezran showed them the main attraction for the festival - an earthblood Winter’s Day tree that had been decorated exquisitely to honor both the Pentarchy and Xadia; they said hello to Barius and left with their bags stuffed full of pastries. They even managed to introduce Rayla to some of the townspeople without much incident. 

In fact, Callum’s heart had melted at the sight of his girlfriend playing with two human children as they tugged at her hands and reached up to touch her hair and her horns. She was patient and gentle with them, keeping the infant boy securely resting on her hip while his older sister danced around them on young, stumpy legs. Their mother watched nervously at first, but eventually fell into a pleasantly casual conversation with Rayla about their journey to Xadia.

Callum didn’t even realize when his sketchbook found its way into his hands, the scene quickly coming to life on paper. This was what he wanted every visit to Katolis to be like, moments like these that proved to the kingdom how incredible Rayla is, how elves are just like them. 

He wanted to see her happy and smiling, and he couldn’t seem to tear his thoughts away from how great she was with kids. 

“Rayla would make a great mom,” a voice said, completely inline with his thoughts. 

Callum replied in affirmation without even thinking. A moment passed before he realized that the voice he’d heard had not been his own. 

“Wait what?” He said, snapping the book shut and looking down to see Ezran’s wry grin staring back at him.

“You were thinking about Rayla as a mom,” he said pointedly. 

“I-I was not!” Callum shot back, glancing quickly over to make sure Rayla hadn’t heard him. To his relief, she was still telling the children’s mother about the day Zym was born.

Callum could feel the heat rapidly rising in his cheeks and he had to remind himself once more that Ezran didn’t understand what he’d walked in on that morning, or rather, what he  _ hadn’t  _ walked in on. 

“Yes you were,” Ezran shot back. “But it makes sense. Rayla was like a mom to Zym the entire time we were bringing him home. She’s already had lots of practice.” 

He had a point there. 

“Yeah-well, she...she would be a good mom, I think. I mean someday, someday a  _ long _ time from now,” Callum suddenly felt himself beginning to sweat despite the cold. 

Ezran just laughed and walked away, setting Bait down to play along with the little girl who was still tugging at Rayla’s fingers. 

To his side, Callum heard Corvus clear his throat. 

“So was that as painful to watch as it was to say?” Callum asked, not meeting his eyes.

“I would say so, Your Highness,” Corvus replied a little sheepishly.

“Great.”

They trudged back to the castle after dusk had settled firmly along the sky. They parted ways with Corvus and carried on down the winding hallways together.

“We can help with some of the final preparations tomorrow, if you’d like” Callum offered as they all munched on some of Barius’ jelly tarts. 

“That’ll be great! Aunt Amaya should be getting in with Gren and Janai tomorrow morning too,” Ezran said.

They reached a junction and he and Rayla prepared to turn right while Ezran would go left, back to the king’s quarters. 

“Just be warned that if you stay the night in Callum’s room again, you’re going to get woken up by me and Bait in the morning,” Ezran said. “No mercy this time.”

They both blushed, but they could hear the humor in Ezran’s voice and let themselves laugh along with him for a moment. It was nice, after all, to laugh and joke together like this again after so long. 

But the moment was broken when another, much firmer voice cut through their laughter.

“If she spends the night  _ where _ again?”

Callum’s heart stopped as he glanced over and saw Opeli standing in a doorway with her hands on her hips and her face looking fiercer than he’d ever seen before. 

Oh they were in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


	4. The Talk:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have now reached Callum's mortifying conversation with Aunt Opeli. Those who are about to die of embarrassment, we salute you.
> 
> Thank you, as always, to everyone for taking the time to stop and read this fic. I have a blast writing it and I'm so thrilled that people have been enjoying the story.

The edges of Callum’s vision tunneled with darkness as he followed Opeli into her office. Her stiff, refined posture was all he could see as he trudged forward, at least until she turned to close the door after him. Then, he could see that her expression was emanating stern disappointment.

“Callum,” she said firmly. He wasn’t proud to admit that he jumped a little when she spoke. “You are still young, but I recognize that in the last year you've had to grow up very quickly and make a lot of very mature decisions. So I'm not going to disrespect you by talking to you like a child about this. Do you understand?"

"Uh, yeah-yes, I mean. Yes, I uh, appreciate that,” he stammered, fumbling as he tried to figure out where to stand and what to do with his hands. 

Opeli nodded then narrowed her eyes. "Have you and Rayla been having sex?" She asked bluntly.

A high-pitched ringing noise was all Callum heard for a moment as every ounce of his blood was suddenly and violently redirected to his face. His mouth fell open but there was no trace of his voice. Instead, a faint squeaking sound started slowly escaping from between his lips.

This was it. This was the moment he would actually die from embarrassment.

Opeli was looking at him expectantly, though not impatiently, with her arms folded over her chest as she crossed the room to lean against the hearth of the fireplace. She seemed prepared to wait for his answer all day if she had too. 

Frankly, he wouldn’t put it past her.

“Callum,” she said again after a full minute went by. “I need you to answer me.”

He swallowed hard, his eyes squinting shut as he willed himself to say something,  _ anything. _

“I-uh-I don’t,” he stammered. “No.”

“You don’t  _ know _ ?” She asked harshly, squaring her shoulders even more.

“No!” He said frantically, wincing as his volume raised exponentially. “I mean ‘no,’ we’re not doing...that.”

Opeli narrowed her eyes.

“Did she stay in your room last night?” She asked.

He shuffled backward a step without meaning to. “Yes,” he said quietly.

“Did she sleep in your bed?”

“...Yes,” he said, wanting nothing more at that moment than to just turn around and run out the door as fast as he could.

Opeli sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I understand you’ve been gone for a long time, Callum, but there are still rules in this kingdom, rules King Harrow put in place for a reason. Having her sneak into your room at night? You must know how that looks.” 

Callum sighed. Of course he knew how it looked; he understood loud and clear when Ezran had walked in on them that morning. 

He nodded to Opeli in affirmation. 

“Your brother has been having a difficult time getting the kingdom to see reason when it comes to elves. He’s been doing his best, but your absence has been a sore subject for a lot of people. Minds will wander if word gets out that Rayla’s been staying with you like that,” she said. “It can’t keep happening.”

All at once, Callum’s mind snapped out of its fog and his resolve hardened. He wanted to show the kingdom there could be peace; it’s what they’d been after since the beginning. But they wouldn’t get there by tiptoeing around the subject. 

“I’m not going to pretend that we’re something we’re not,” he said, relieved to hear the quiver had gone from his voice. 

He watched the smallest hint of surprise grow in Opeli’s eyes at his change of tone. Nevertheless, she didn’t back down. “That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Yes it is,” he said, holding his arms out wide. “You’re asking me to pretend that Rayla and I don’t sleep together every night. Well we do, we have for months, and I’m not planning on changing that on the kingdom’s account.” 

“I am asking you to be practical,” Opeli said, her voice beginning to rise too. “Like it or not, you are a prince of Katolis and your choices have consequences bigger than yourself.”

Callum could feel a bud of anger beginning to bloom in his chest now. Harrow’s last words to him had been a plea to not let the past define his future and Callum intended to stay true to those words. Ghosts of past wars, past prejudices and past rules had all played a part in his step-father’s downfall. He was a good man, but he’d been governed by those ghosts in the end. 

Callum wouldn’t let him and Rayla fall on that same sword. 

“I  _ am _ being practical,” he said, taking a step forward. “Someone once told me that to break a cycle, you have to be the person willing to take a stand when no one else will. That’s what we’re doing.”

Opeli shook her head and began to pace back and forth across the length of the room, the heels of her boots clicking on the stone tiles. 

“What you two are doing is admirable and I support you. All I’m asking is that you know where to set boundaries. I would do the same even if she were human.”

Maybe Callum was being a little stubborn at this point, but he was finding it harder and harder to care. He and Rayla had their reasons for their intimacy. They’d been responsible about it and hadn’t done anything they weren’t ready for. Why should it matter if anyone else believed them?

“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” he said, his frustration prominent now. “I already told you, we didn’t do anything.”

“Be that as it may, you two staying together like that  _ could _ lead to something, Callum. You understand that, don’t you?” Opeli said sternly.

Clallum’s fists were clenching now as he thought back to that first night after Ezran and the others left the spire and Rayla had fallen asleep on her own.

He'd lost track of time sketching the view from outside the keep. It had only been a few hours, but that had been long enough for her to doze off. His blood had run cold the moment he walked back inside and heard her sobs echoing off the stone walls. 

He ran to her.

She'd been tucked in a ball in a corner of the main chamber, Zym trying valiantly but unsuccessfully to calm her down with licks and nuzzles. 

When Callum dropped to his knees in front of her, the first thing he saw was blood. Tears welled in his eyes and the dread of her being hurt immediately took him back to the top of the pinnacle. 

A closer look revealed that she had been trembling so uncontrollably that she'd bitten through a large portion of her lower lip. He’d wiped the blood away with his scarf while he held her, stroking her hair and reminding her to breathe, just like his mother had done for him.

Rayla had never experienced a full-blown panic attack before that night. 

She eventually told him that she'd dreamt that it was him she tackled over the edge of the spire instead of Viren. She watched him fall through the sky until he hit the ground a split-second before her. But in that split-second, she watched his body shatter on the rocks, knowing it was all her fault. Then, darkness came for her too.

Callum hadn't forgotten the look of pure terror in her eyes. He'd resolved then and there that he would do everything he could to keep that fear from coming back. So he stayed with her that night, and when she eventually slipped back into an uneasy sleep, it had been a dreamless one. He’d moved all his belongings into her room the next day, with a promise that he would protect her every night. 

It turned out that, like always, he needed protecting just as much as she did. 

They discovered his own nightmares about a week later when he too fell asleep without her. Every time it happened, every time they accidentally fell asleep apart, they’d wake sobbing and shaking and unable to breathe. 

So, they’d been sleeping together ever since, because it was what they needed, not because they were trying to take things too far. 

But Opeli didn’t see it that way. 

Instead, she seemed to take his momentary silence as guilty hesitation, for her eyes softened sympathetically.

“Look, prince of Katolis or not, actions like these come with some very serious implications,” she said. “I know what it’s like to be young and in love, really I do. But I want you to think about what you want for your future, not just for one night.”

Callum’s anger surged at that. Rayla wasn’t just some girl he was trying to experiment with. She was the first person to really, truly believe that he could do more than he was giving himself credit for. She was strong and compassionate and he couldn’t picture a world without her in it. 

“Rayla  _ is _ what I want for my future!” He felt a bubble of satisfaction at seeing Opeli so taken aback when he shouted. 

“We stay together because neither of us can sleep otherwise. We haven’t been able to sleep apart since before the battle,” he said. “We haven’t done anything else because we know neither of us are ready. I love her, and I’m not going to leave her by herself to have nightmares because you think we’re just being impulsive teenagers.”

Opeli stayed silent. She’d stopped pacing and looked him straight in the eye as he spoke. 

“You can be mad or disappointed if you want. But when I leave here, I’m still going to go find Rayla and I’m still bringing her to my room tonight.”

And that was that. Callum was content in knowing that he’d at least been able to speak his peace. While they were in Katolis, he and Rayla would be staying together, no matter what. He fully expected Opeli to start shouting back, to tell him he was acting like a child and insist that guards be posted outside their doors for the remainder of their visit.

Instead, she let go of another heavy sigh, her posture slumping a little.

“You say she’s who you want for your future?” She asked evenly, her eyes still focusing firmly on his. 

Callum stood as tall as he could, not letting go of her gaze either. 

“Yes,” he said firmly. 

Opeli nodded, and Callum could have sworn he saw the tiniest tug at the corner of her lip before she turned around and walked toward her desk. “Then there’s something you should have.” She began shuffling around some scrolls and opening and closing a few drawers before she found what she was looking for. 

“I don’t know when you’re going to be in Katolis again, or what’s coming for us all now that the dragon prince is home, but if you mean what you say, you should have this,” she said, pulling a little box from one of the drawers.

Callum eyed it with uncertainty. It was roughly carved from some kind of dark wood, walnut perhaps, and didn’t look big enough to hold much of anything. 

“King Harrow found this among your mother’s possessions after...we lost her. He’d been looking forward to giving it to you one day. It was hers,” Opeli said, her voice now calm and gentle. “From your birth-father.”

Callum’s heart stopped. 

His mother didn’t have many possessions from his birth-father, and there were even fewer things Callum remembered about him when he was alive. But she would tell him about how much he had loved them and how proud he would be to see Callum growing up. 

Tears began slipping down his cheeks as he looked at the box. It was simple and hand-carved by the looks of the few jagged edges. Somehow he just knew that his birth-father had been the one to make it.

Opeli reached out and tugged one of his hands up from where it had been laying limp at his side. She placed the box in his palm and folded his fingers around it. He was grateful, for he couldn’t seem to move much on his own.

““This isn’t me telling you to do anything with it anytime soon,” Opeli said, eyeing him carefully. “Just keep it and think about what it means.”

What it...what it means. 

He looked down and flipped the box open with his thumb to find a silver band with a milky white gemstone cradled in the center. It was a simple ring but it was expertly crafted, sturdy and beautiful, just like his mother. 

Just like Rayla. 

When he’d watched her go over the edge of the spire, it had been a shock to his system in more ways than one. But his biggest revelation that day had been that if he wasn’t able to save her, he was prepared to die trying. It was how he’d known that he loved her, it was how he’d calmed his mind enough to use the mage wings spell properly. He’d accepted that, live or die, he wanted to be with her forever. 

She was the love of his life. 

But as he looked at his mother’s ring, his thoughts moved away from their grand adventures and life-or-death battles. Instead, he imagined what it would be like to ask her to marry him, and his heart began to glow. 

He pictured a wedding that would mesh their cultures together in as many ways as possible. He pictured the ring on her finger and a pair of cuffs on her horns, both telling the world that she was his wife.

Then he thought about earlier that afternoon, when he’d watched Rayla playing with the children in town. He thought about how it would look instead if she’d been playing with a child with brown hair and lavender eyes, whose five fingers matched his but with pointed ears that matched hers. 

He began to blush, but he smiled as the tears continued to fall.

“Th-thank y-you,” Callum said, closing the box before his imagination could pull him further away. He wrapped his arms around Opeli in a tight hug. “Thank you.”

She hugged him back and Callum felt a gentle hand pat him on the back of the head. He squeezed his eyes shut, letting himself imagine, just for a second, that it was his mother’s hand comforting him.

“You’ve grown up so much, Callum,” she said. “I want you to know that I am so very proud of you. And I do trust you. I know you will make good decisions because you already have. Even if I didn’t expect a moonshadow elf assassin to be the first girl you brought home.”

Callum sputtered out a laugh. “Mom would have liked her though, I think,” he said softly, opening his eyes.

“I think she would have,” Opeli replied with a chuckle of her own.

They stood together in comfortable silence for a few minutes, allowing the weight of the conversation to lift a little and for the implication of Opeli’s gift to sink in.

Eventually, Callum sniffed and flipped the lid of the box closed before putting it in his pocket. He beamed at Opeli, thanking her once again before turning toward the door. However, he was stopped by her hand catching his shoulder.

“Callum, I am accepting that your sleeping arrangements aren’t going to change, but I have to ask, how did King Ezran know about it?” 

His heart tripped over a few beats and for what felt like the hundredth time that day, heat radiated up the back of his neck. He turned back around to face her. She no longer appeared upset, her usual sternness now resting comfortably over her features. But she was still plenty intimidating. 

“Uh, well...funny story about that,” he said, ringing his hands together. “He might have kinda barged in on us this morning.” 

Opeli stared silently, the muscles around her mouth twitching. He wasn’t entirely sure if she was trying to keep herself from laughing or shouting at him. 

He didn’t have to wait to find out, however, for Opeli turned and walked away before sitting down at her desk. “Thank you, Prince Callum. That will be all,” she said as she began busying herself with a number of scrolls. Her voice was surprisingly light and clipped. 

Callum’s eyes widened when he realized it actually  _ was _ laughter she was trying to stifle. He felt his cheeks burn even hotter. 

He honestly would have preferred more shouting. 

He turned once more and stiffly made his way through the door and out of Opeli’s chambers, pausing when he found Rayla sitting on the floor across the hall with Bait on her lap. She looked up at the sound, catching his eye and quickly setting the glow toad on the ground next to her so she could stand. 

“Callum,” Rayla said with concern as she rushed over and brought a hand up to his cheek. She stroked the skin beneath his eyes where a few tear streaks must still remain. “Are you okay?”

He put a hand over hers, savoring the warmth against his cheek for a moment. He hated to see her worry, but he was grateful she cared enough to wait. 

Callum cleared his throat a little before pulling her hand off his face and toward his lips, kissing her fingers softly.

“Yeah,” he said with a reassuring smile. “I’m fine.” 

He pulled her into a tight hug, resting his chin on her shoulder and letting his hands settle on her lower back. She stood still with confusion for a brief moment before he felt her arms encircle him as well. 

Standing there, holding her, Callum knew that one day he would indeed ask her to marry him. That day wasn’t coming particularly soon, but feeling the weight of the box in his pocket let a mix of anxiety and bliss settle in his gut. 

“Everything okay, Callum?” Ezran’s voice was a jolt through his mind and Callum jumped a little. 

“Yeah, Ez. Nothing to worry about,” he said, pulling away from Rayla just a little to see his brother standing beside them. Briefly, he thought it strange that he hadn’t noticed him when he first emerged into the hall. 

But then again, he was a little distracted.

“Why don’t you guys go get some sleep? We can talk more in the morning,” Ezran said, patting Callum on the arm and flashing him an empathetic smile. 

Callum smiled back gratefully and nodded. 

He kept one arm draped across Rayla’s shoulders as they walked back to his room, her own wrapped around his waist. She glanced worriedly at him once they escaped Ezran’s earshot and bumped his hip with hers.

“So...what did she say?” She asked tentatively. “I take it we’re not getting kicked out.”

He used his free hand to rub at the back of his head nervously. “Well...she knows that we stay together at night and that we’re not planning on changing that while we’re here…”

“Uh huh…?” Rayla said, obviously hearing the hint of something else in his voice and waiting for him to continue. 

“Aaaannd, she might have asked if we’ve been...well...doing other things too.”

Rayla groaned. “Great.” 

They made sure to lock the door behind them when they finally reached his room, each letting out a sigh of relief and exhaustion now that the emotionally-taxing day was over. Callum was careful not to jostle the contents of his pocket as he removed his jacket and placed it over the back of his chair. 

Rayla did the same, draping her jacket, vest and other pieces of her outerwear on top of his before climbing into bed. After everything that had happened that day, Callum couldn’t help but feel a little extra bashful as he laid down next to her. 

She didn’t seem to notice, however, as she snuggled into his side and kissing his cheek before bidding him goodnight. 

Callum listened to her breaths grow longer and longer until he knew she was asleep. He turned his head toward the pile of clothing on the chair and pictured the ring that lay underneath it all. 

He wanted that future with Rayla so badly, but in that moment, lying there in the stillness of night with nothing to distract him from his own anxieties, his mind began to wander. He thought of all the people who’d held that ring before him. His birth-father had given it to his mother; his mother had worn it proudly for four years; and his step-father had been saving it for Callum. 

But they were all gone now. 

A drop of fear landed in his stomach at the connection. Harrow wanted him to forge a narrative of love, rather than strength for his life. But what had he seen come from love except death? 

He glanced back down to where Rayla was asleep against his chest, the smallest of smiles on her face. He couldn’t lose her too. It had almost happened once, he wouldn’t let it happen again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


	5. Restless Mornings

The sunrise was still at least an hour away when Callum opened his eyes. His final thoughts from the night before had leaked into his dreams, keeping him restless throughout the night. No matter what he did, he couldn’t take his mind off the ring.

He sighed as quietly as he could and brought a hand up to rub at his eyes. They stung with fatigue, but he knew there was no way he was getting anymore sleep. Rayla shifted against his chest, one of her hands slipping into the once-again open collar of his nightshirt and coming to rest over his heart. He listened as Rayla exhaled deeply before falling still. 

Callum wrapped his arms around her, hugging her gently while he focused on the feeling of her body against his.

‘ _ She’s alive _ ,’ he silently reminded himself. ‘ _ She’s alive and she’s here with me _ .’

But still his heart pumped fear into his blood. He’d already come so close to losing her at the spire, and that had only been when he’d just realized that he was in love with her. What might happen if he really did propose?

Callum closed his eyes and frowned at the thought. It was an absurd correlation, he knew, but that wasn’t stopping his brain from latching on and trying its best to make him believe that where marriage came, death followed. His pulse quickened as he saw them again: the vague memory of his birth-father, the kind smile of his mother, and the strong wisdom of Harrow. Love had brought them to each other, and in a way, that love had also led them to their downfall. 

When Rayla’s face suddenly appeared alongside them, Callum knew he needed to get out and find some fresh air. He delicately peeled Rayla’s arm away and slipped out of bed. After finding his clothes and sketchbook, he crept out of the room, glancing back at Rayla’s sleeping form once more before closing the door behind him. 

Callum gave a regrettably-large jump when he locked eyes with a guard who had been stationed just outside the room. He’d almost forgotten what it was like to have soldiers constantly waiting in the wings to protect him from danger. 

“Prince Callum, good morning,” the guard said a bit too loudly, making Callum wince.

“Hi, yeah, good morning,” Callum replied in a whisper. “Could you keep your voice down? My g-” He hesitated. He’d already made his position clear with Opeli, but that didn’t make it any less weird to ask a palace guard to be quiet so his girlfriend, who’d just so happened to spend the night with him, wouldn’t wake up.

Callum cleared his throat. He’d said it himself, they weren’t going to break down walls surrounding the stigma between elves and humans by pretending that they were something they weren’t. 

“My girlfriend is still asleep,” he finally finished, gesturing back to the door of his room. 

To Callum’s surprise, the guard looked genuinely apologetic. “Forgive me, your Highness,” he said, his voice now also lowered to a whisper. “I didn’t realize Lady Rayla was still in bed.”

Callum blushed as he waved off the guard when he tried to follow him down the corridor. Being in Xadia, in a way, had been so much simpler. One of the benefits to living in a thousand-foot mountain was that there were fewer people to judge him and Rayla on their relationship. There was always some room or passage they could go to be alone if they wanted. 

But in Katolis, there were constantly guards, courtiers or other staff milling about and doing their duties for the royal family — his family. It was odd, to say the least, to have lived as a novice mage in a magical land only to return to his home where he was still seen as a prince. Here, he was a valuable asset to be protected. In Xadia, he was the one who did the protecting. 

He filed away the guard’s choice of words though. “Lady Rayla” sure had an interesting ring to it. She would, without a doubt, absolutely hate it. 

He let his feet guide him through the familiar halls without really thinking. He passed the portraits of Harrow’s lineage that decorated the walls, tapestries that gleamed with golden inlays of the uneven towers, and suits of armor that loomed down at him. It was all so familiar and so foreign at the same time. 

Callum began to walk faster as he felt the beating of his heart beginning to pick up speed. He needed to get outside, he needed to see the sky. 

It was with great relief that Callum eventually flung open the doors to the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. He took a deep breath of the pre-dawn air as his hands found the banister. The air was a welcome shock to his lungs, the cold stinging his nostrils and clearing his head as the comfort of his arcanum swirled around him. 

As Callum felt the thrumming of his heart begin to subside, he found one of his hands drifting down toward the pocket of his jacket. He pulled the little box from its confines and cradled it against his chest. 

“Mom,” he whispered, watching the white cloud of his breath drift up toward the stars. “I’m scared. I wish you were here.”

He felt the roughly-carved wood against his fingers and pictured what his mother’s face would have looked like when she received it. She’d always had one of the brightest smiles Callum had ever seen; It lit up her whole face and was easily contagious to anyone within eyeshot. He could imagine her leaping into his birth-father’s arms as she said yes, perhaps bringing both of them tumbling to the ground.

Callum chuckled at the thought, surprising himself to find that the sound was closer to a sob. 

He could imagine a similar scene if he were to propose to Rayla. It wouldn’t be anything grandiose — she wouldn’t want that — but it would be just right for them. She’d smile that special smile she saved just for him, and he’d kiss her when she threw herself into his arms. Eventually, he’d have to remind her to actually let him put the thing on her finger. 

He wanted it so desperately. His heart ached to one day have a normal life with her, to have a family. His childhood had been so messy: full of death, complexity, and politics. He hoped beyond hope that there would one day be peace. One day, he wouldn’t have to fear who was going to die next.

But Rayla was a hero, as was his mother, and his step-father, and perhaps his birth-father too. And in his experience, heroes were struck down, their lives destined to become a legacy of martyrdom. Their faces would live on forever etched in stone, but the love that once filled the lives of those who knew them best would turn to grief and pain. 

Callum didn’t think he’d be able to go on if all he had of Rayla was a statue. His heart could handle a lot, but that would be unbearable.

Callum whispered again, feeling a tear slide down his cheek. “I don’t know what to do.” 

A whistle of wind blew through his hair, making him shiver but keeping his panic from growing any further. He reached for his sketchbook and set it down on the banister in front of him. He took up his pencil and let his hand begin to wander across a blank page. It didn’t matter what he drew, he just needed something, anything to get the fear out of his body and onto the paper. 

After a few minutes, a view of the pinnacle began to take shape in the charcoal, followed by Rayla’s form disappearing over the side. Callum’s fingers clenched around the pencil and he turned the page.

He wouldn’t lose Rayla because he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. If he could dive off a thousand-foot cliff and summon magical wings to catch her, he could keep her safe. All he had to do was stay calm.

_ ‘Just breathe _ .’ His mother’s voice echoed in his head. 

Callum closed his eyes and inhaled, the peace of his arcanum once again centering him as he made a silent vow to himself. They would end this war. They would end it so he could give Rayla his mother’s ring and they could live their lives together in peace. He would do anything to make sure it happened.

* * *

Callum remained entranced by his thoughts as the castle slowly began coming to life for the day. His mind was calmer, but no less anxious, and he quietly filled three more pages of his sketchbook with doodles as he stood on the balcony, listening to the patter of footsteps crossing the courtyard, followed by the occasional yawn. A few crownguards passed by, asking if he was alright or if he needed anything, and each time he offered back a quick, but polite, ‘I’m fine, thank you.’

His only notion of the time was the light slowly but steadily creeping onto his parchment. He vaguely knew that he should get back to his room before people started wondering where he was, but the thought alone was not enough to get him to move. It wasn’t until he heard small footsteps approach him, followed by his brother’s voice, that he looked up.

“Hey, what are you doing out here?”

Callum smiled at Ezran as he padded up to the bannister beside him, scarlet slippers still on his feet.

“Woke up too early,” replied Callum as he glanced up to see that the sun was indeed starting to make an appearance over the castle walls. “Had a lot on my mind.”

“Yeah, I bet you do.”

Callum frowned. He considered himself an expert in reading his little brother’s moods, and there was definitely a twinge of something morose in his voice. Putting his pencil in between the pages, Callum closed his sketchbook, crossed his arms, and looked at him.

“What’s going on, Ezran?” 

Ezran groaned and let his head flop onto the bannister. Callum winced at the ‘thump’ his forehead made against the stone but didn’t say anything. This was often how their Big Feelings Times would start if Ezran felt guilty or unsure about something. 

Sure enough, after a few more noises of weak protest, Ez sighed and then spoke. “I know you and Rayla have nightmares and that’s why you can’t sleep by yourselves.” 

Callum swore silently as he caught sight of the single blue eye looking up at him from beneath the cloud of Ezran’s hair. The first thing he felt was guilt; nightmares were really the kind of thing they would tell each other about, especially ones that were as bad as this. He should have been the one to tell Ez about them.

But that led to the question of who  _ had  _ told him. Callum was fairly certain Rayla wouldn’t have done it. She still struggled with opening up about things she thought were weaknesses, not to mention the added embarrassment of having Ez walk in on them yesterday.

The only other person who knew about it was...Opeli. 

“How do you know that?” Callum asked, trying to remain calm. She could have very well mentioned it to Ezran after their talk last night. But when Ezran’s eye disappeared from view and his head thumped against the stone once more, Callum knew that wasn’t the case.

“Rayla and I were trying to hear what Opeli was saying to you, so I went into the secret passages and listened by the grate in her office.”

“What?!” Callum shouted in response, his mind frantically replaying the events of that conversation over in his head.

Bad.

Bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.

Listening to the High Cleric lecture him about staying in the same room with his girlfriend was not how Callum wanted Ezran to learn about sex. Frankly, he wasn’t prepared for him to learn about sex at all, but this would definitely be a bad start.

Ezran, meanwhile, looked nonplussed as he smiled and waved in the direction of a few guards who were shooting them concerned looks from the courtyard.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” he said when the onlookers continued on their way. “We were just worried about you and I didn’t think you were going to be talking about such important stuff. I thought she was just going to yell at you for keeping secrets.

Callum grabbed desperately at Ezran’s shoulders. “H-how much did you hear?”

“I got there right before the nightmares part, and I left after Opeli gave you...after she gave you that.” Ezran pointed behind Callum to where he’d set the ring box on the banister. 

“Oh thank goodness,” Callum said with a heavy sigh of relief. He sent a silent ‘thank you’ to any and all of his ancestors who were looking out for him at that moment. He reached over and plucked up the ring box.

Ezran eyed the thing warily, like he thought some sort of venomous insect might come crawling out of it at any moment. “Is it-” He gulped. “Is that the ring your dad gave Mom?”

Callum redirected his attention to the box and felt a now-familiar surge of anxiety. He sighed again. That shouldn’t be the first feeling he had when looking at an engagement ring.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Yeah, it is.” Deftly, Callum flicked open the box and showed Ezran the ring inside.

“Are you going to give it to Rayla?”

“I think I am, yeah. Not now, but eventually.” He wanted to smile when he said it, he wanted to hug his brother and conspire about how to surprise Rayla, but Callum’s fear kept his lips turned downward. “But...I’m scared, Ez.” Now he was crying again.

“Mom was married to my birth-father, but then he died. And then she married Dad, and then she died.” Callum wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. He held in a sob that made his ribs quiver. “I almost lost Rayla once, and I’m just so terrified that if we get married...I’ll actually lose her.”

A warm hand found its way to Callum’s shoulder. “You really love her don’t you?”

“I really do,” he said with a nod. “When I think about the future, I think about her. I know it’ll be hard, but I can’t picture it any other way.” He imagined again what it might be like to give her the ring. Maybe he would wait until a full moon. Maybe he would ask her to dance first. 

Maybe it would all go wrong. 

“But what if I’m cursed or something?” He continued, looking back at Ez. “What if next time something happens, I’m not fast enough to catch her.” He almost hadn’t made it to the pinnacle in time, after all. If he’d been just a little bit slower climbing the steps, he might not have seen Rayla go over the edge. He wouldn’t have even known what she’d done until…until it was too late.

“Is that why you’ve gotten so good at hearing her coming?” 

The question mercifully severed Callum’s train of thought before it could get any worse. His thoughts were instead redirected to yesterday’s excursion in town and how he’d sensed Rayla approaching without really thinking about it. Despite himself, a little laugh escaped from his chest as he pictured the scene from an outsider’s perspective.

A year ago, he hardly had enough confidence to keep himself walking in a straight line half the time. Now he was sensing shifting wind currents and conjuring snowballs with his bare hands.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he said to Ezran. “I know she’s strong and that I can’t be with her all the time. But I figure that if I know the way she normally moves, I’ll know if something ever goes wrong.”

Callum winced and wished he’d found a less-weird way to explain himself. “That sounds really dumb, doesn’t it?”

Ezran, being the sweet kid that he is, just chuckled. “It sounds like you’re in love.”

Callum laughed as well. It seemed like all of a sudden, his baby brother had been replaced by a wise, old king. But then he remembered that Ezran had always been that way, because even with all the pain and the heartache they’d both gone through, they’d still been fortunate enough to have a pretty extraordinary family. 

Their laughter faded into a comfortable silence as they stood there watching the sun now rising in earnest. There was a bit of hopefulness in the air now that Callum was more than happy to cling to. He remembered that they’d already done the impossible — more than once, in fact. He could take solace in that for now.

“You won’t lose her,” Ezran eventually added as he waved to Barius in the courtyard. “Whenever you want to give it to her, you’ll keep each other safe. You’ve already had plenty of practice.” 

The last tear of the morning crawled down Callum’s cheek as he smiled. “Thanks, Ez.”

They shared a hug before spending the next several minutes absent-mindedly watching as more and more castle staff began their daily hustles and bustles. The fresh snow in the courtyard quickly turned grey from footprints and wagon wheels.

Eventually, just as a laundress cart clopped through the front gate, Ezran spoke once again. This time, a bit of his earlier trepidation returned to his voice. “So, how come you didn’t mention the nightmares to me before?” His voice broke slightly, which he tried to cover with a cough, but the sound shot straight to Callum’s heat.

“You usually tell me when something’s wrong,” he continued, adding that when he’d overheard the news from the tunnels, he’d been upset to hear that he and Rayla had been struggling, but he’d been even more upset that they hadn’t told him about it themselves.

Callum yanked him into another, even-tighter hug before dropping to one knee to look him in the eye.  “I hear you, and I’m sorry, Ez. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I didn’t even mean not to tell you, I just...sorta didn’t…”

Which was true. Since becoming a teenager, and especially since their adventure through Xadia, Callum had been experiencing an interesting phenomenon — he no longer told Ezran everything. When they were kids, they had Big Feelings Time almost every day, even if it was just about small stuff. Even if they didn’t always agree or understand, they at least knew where the other was coming from. But lately, that just didn’t happen much, especially when they were so far apart. Maybe it was just part of growing up.

Even so, Ezran deserved better.

“At first I didn’t think it was my story to tell,” Callum continued, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He explained about that first night in the spire alone with Rayla and how debilitating her first panic attack had been.

“About a week after that, I fell asleep on accident while she was playing with Zym. It was the worst nightmare I’ve ever had; I watched her jump over the edge of the mountain again and again. I couldn’t move to grab her or go after her; I couldn’t even breathe. I just had to stand there and watch her fall.

“The next thing I knew, Rayla was shaking me, begging me to open my eyes. She told me I’d started screaming her name. She was terrified.” The lingering emotions of that night made his throat tighten and Callum coughed to clear his airway before continuing.

“After that, we made sure not to let each other sleep alone because whenever we did, it always ended like that. After a while it just got to be so normal that I kinda forgot you didn’t already know,” he said. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

It was Ezran’s turn to offer him a hug, which Callum accepted wholeheartedly. 

“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s hard to do Big Feelings Time over letters anyway.”

At Callum’s promise that they would just have to have extra big Big Feelings Times when he and Rayla came to visit, Ezran offered him a curious look.

“So I guess that means you guys will be staying in Xadia for a while longer then?”

Callum glanced back toward the rising sun. Miles and miles in that direction was a whole world of magic, of which he’d only just scratched the surface. He knew his time in Xadia wasn’t over, not by a long shot. He and Rayla had talked about continuing their travels after Grian and Tuula were trained up. 

There were plenty of places in Xadia that she’d never been before either, and they wanted to see it together. Not to mention, Callum’s growing affinity for moon magic had yet to be explored. He explained as much to Ezran and he just snorted. 

“Are you sure that’s not just one of your normal sappy feelings?” He asked, patting Callum’s cheek. Callum swatted it away, promising to learn how to use illusion magic to make grubs into a jelly tart.

The whiny of a horse racing into the courtyard stole their attention, and Callum and Ezran watched as Soren dismounted. He caught their eyes almost immediately and jogged his way up the stairs to meet them.

“Hey,” he said, sounding especially perky for such an early hour. “ You sure made finding you guys super easy. Your aunt will be here soon. They’re just about to ride into town.”

“That’s great!” Ezran exclaimed.

But Callum froze at the news. “Oh shoot, I’ve got to go get Rayla. I promised to wake her up before Aunt Amaya got here. I’ll be right back.”

It was more of an implicit promise, but he knew how intimidated Aunt Amaya made Rayla feel. She’d never admit it herself, but their confrontation at the Banther Lodge had left her bruised in more ways than one. The fact that Amaya was, aside from Ezran, Callum’s last living family member meant that Rayla coveted her approval. But she was also an elf and therefore a “bloodthirsty monster.” Despite Callum’s insistence that Amaya seemed to have had her own epiphany about elves, Rayla was still obviously nervous about their reunion. 

So he took off at a sprint back through the castle, dodging crownguards and weaving around maids holding baskets of laundry. He eventually slowed to a brisk walk when he caught the eye of a grumpy Opeli who clearly had not had her morning tea yet.

When he eventually reached his room, he nodded to the same guard from earlier who had kindly remained posted outside the door while Rayla was still asleep. Callum made a mental note to marvel at that bit of thoughtfulness later, and slipped inside. 

The sound of him entering was enough to stir Rayla. She inhaled sharply, felt around the mattress with one hand and frowned when she didn’t find him beside her. After that, her eyes fluttered open and she curiously searched around the room until she saw him standing in the doorway with a fond smile on his lips. 

“Did Ezran get in again?” She asked, her accent thick with sleep and her eyes half-lidded. She glanced around some more, presumably looking for the young king. 

Callum chuckled and closed the door behind him before meandering over. “Nope, just me this time.” 

Rayla sunk her head back into the pillow. “Good. Come back to bed then.”

“It’s actually time for both of us to get up,” said Callum as he perched himself on the edge of the mattress and reached over to stroke Rayla’s still-outstretched arm. “Aunt Amaya’s battalion is riding into the city.”

Rayla’s head shot up. “They’re already here? I haven’t had time to practice any signs since we left.”

“You’re gonna do fine. Besides, Amaya will be thrilled that you wanted to learn sign language in the first place.”

“Not if I’m terrible at it! What if I accidentally insult her or something?” She was sitting up straight now and entirely awake.

“You’re not going to insult her. She helped teach me and Ez, she knows when somebody is still learning.”

Rayla threw off the blanket and flew across the room to retrieve a change of clothes. She made a twirling motion with her finger and Callum obediently turned around, grateful for the chance to let the heat fade from his cheeks. 

“Plus, she likes you more than you think,” he added over his shoulder. 

He heard the muffled sound of Rayla scoff as she pulled something over her head. “You remember that she pinned me to a wall and punched me unconscious, right?”

“Yes, but to be fair, she did think you’d kidnapped us. Now she knows better, and she has an elf friend of her own.”

Off in the distance, a horn sounded, which Callum recognized as an announcement that a unit of soldiers was crossing through town and approaching the castle. Without thinking, he turned around and meant to grab for Rayla’s hand to lead her back out to the balcony, but instead realized that she hadn’t quite finished pulling on her new top — which, he noticed, happened to be an old, too-small sweater of his that had been hanging in the armoire. 

The fabric had snagged on one of her horns and Rayla had both hands currently working to set it free, Her torso was exposed, as was the bottom-most layer of what Callum immediately realized was her breast wrappings.

He locked eyes with Rayla for just a second before spinning back around. Meanwhile, his heart started pounding in a ferocious rhythm against his ribs.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, keeping his eyes focused intently on the wall in front of him. “I didn’t mean to look.”

“It’s okay. It was an accident,” Rayla said quickly.

Callumb bit the inside of his cheek as he wrestled with his thoughts. Outside, another wave of fanfare echoed. 

“We should probably hurry,” Rayla said, putting a hand on his shoulder. This time, Callum turned around slowly and carefully. The sweater now hung comfortably from Rayla’s shoulders and she wore a layer of pink on her cheeks a well.

Clearing his throat, he nodded and took her hand, pulling her out the door.

Apparently, there would be no such thing as a normal morning during this trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this only took *checks watch* 355 days to update...whoops. 
> 
> To everyone who's been waiting for the next chapter, I apologize for the long delay. I think that after writing Return to Katolis, and then starting Departing from Xadia immediately after, I got a little burnt out and needed to step back from this plot for a while. But I've always intended to come back to it, and no matter how long it takes, I will finish this fic.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your wonderful support. I'll be working to get updates out on this story as well as Secret & Forbidden as often as I can. I'm also working on an outside project, which, if all goes well, will be my first paid work of creative writing (fingers crossed). So if there is another longer delay during the next few months, I apologize for that as well. 
> 
> In the meantime, I hope you all are well and have been having a good start to 2021. 
> 
> ~Lobster

**Author's Note:**

> And there we have the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it and if you've already read Return to Katolis and have any particular moments from that fic that you'd especially like to have revisited from Callum or Rayla's point of view, please feel free to let me know here and I'm also on Tumblr at lobstermobster-95.
> 
> See you all in the next one!


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